FORMER Palaro player Julius Ablin proved that he still has the tricks when he topped the recent MICC-Jack Dasmarinas Birthday Chess Tournament in Iligan City.

Ablin actually finished in a tie with Romeo Minoza at six points, but claimed the P2,000 top purse and the championship trophy via superior tiebreak points.

At third and fourth places with 5.5 points apiece were Bengt Largo and Bernard Madrazo.

Gabriel Oba-ob occupied the fifth spot after edging fellow five-pointer Alejo Bation in the Bucholz tiebreaker.

“Ginagmay lang na torneyo pero importante kay maoy isa sa mga basehan pagpili nga mo-represent sa Iligan team in future events,” Ablin told SunStar Cagayan de Oro via Facebook messaging.

(Even if it’s a small tournament but still important because that is the basis in choosing who will represent Iligan team in future events.)

“Dala preparasyon na sab kay naay plano nga mag-match ang Cagayan de Oro versus Iligan puhon,” he added.

(Also, it serve as preparation because there is a planned match between Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in the future.)

Ablin defeated Enoch Quilinguen, Lito Paglinawan, Jaybe Velez, Romeo Minoza and Cecil Cuevas.

He split the points with Largo in Round 3 and Bernard Madrazo in the penultimate sixth round.

Close to 50 players had participated in the day-long tourney, using the semi-long game format with 45 minutes time control plus five seconds increment.